BB Retail Capital
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

BBRC is a private investment company founded by Australian businessman Brett Blundy.


History


1980s

In 1980, 20-year-old Brett Blundy and a business partner he met from school bought two rundown record stores called Disco Stick. They immediately closed one, combined the stock into the Pakenham store (situated in a small shopping arcade) and reopened as Jetts, selling
vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
and cassettes. The lease for this store was for a three-year period, but it was losing money from day one. Blundy and his partner found another unloved record store a year later, this time within a bigger shopping district at Parkmore Shopping Centre, Keysborough, supported by a larger surrounding population. Before they purchased it, the Parkmore store was turning over $2,000 a week, but six months later as a Jetts outlet, it had increased to $15,000, and was subsidising the failing Pakenham store which was closed once the lease had expired. The Parkmore outlet lasted until 2010 under the Jetts, Delta, and Sanity branding. In 1986, Blundy and his business partner went their separate ways with Blundy selling his 60% stake in the eight-store Jetts chain to his former partner for $600,000. This left Blundy to pursue an idea he had three months before the Jetts sell-off, after he noticed one of his "fashionable" female store managers kept wearing a broken
bra A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, ; ), is a type of form-fitting underwear that is primarily used to support and cover a woman's breasts. A typical bra consists of a chest band that wraps around the torso, supporting two breast cups ...
, held together with a
safety pin A safety pin is a variation of the regular Pin (device), pin which includes a simple Spring (device), spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp forms a closed loop to properly fasten the pin to whatever it is applied to and covers the end of the p ...
. Knowing that most lingerie at that time were beige in colour with unflattering cuts, he wanted to sell underwear in various cuts and colours, alongside
G-strings A G-string is a garment consisting of a narrow piece of material that barely covers the genitals, a string-like piece that passes between the buttocks, and a very thin waistband around the hips. There are designs for both women and men. Men's G- ...
that were unheard of for casual wear. Three months later, he took out his first franchise in The Bra Shop chain at Chirnside Park Shopping Centre, mainly selling brand name product, but gradually sourcing different lines independently of the franchise (his first run of 15 G-strings sold out in one day). Bryan Luca, the franchisor of The Bra Shop, entered into an agreement with Blundy to buy his three
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
stores in exchange for Luca's four underperforming Bras N Things outlets in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and a guarantee to not trade in Victoria. Brazin Limited officially commenced operation after Blundy expanded Bras 'N' Things into
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and then
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
.


1990s

In 1990, Brazin Limited bought back the failed Jetts chain from the liquidators at a discount and began to progressively rebrand them as Delta music stores. Also in that year, with Bras 'N' Things expanded to 60 stores around the country, Bryan Luca started to progressively sell his remaining Victorian Bra Shop outlets to Blundy in groups of six at a time with all eventually being sold and renamed to Bras 'N' Things The Sanity concept and brand was established and introduced by Brazin in 1992 with its first store at Doncaster Shoppingtown. This occurred by chance thanks to Blundy's working knowledge of Doncaster Shoppingtown, as – while running his five-store company in the late 1980s – he worked as a casual shop assistant in its Just Jeans store to learn more about its culture and internal processes. When he found out the centre's only record shop closed without notice he brazenly talked his way into that lease with the centre manager, even though it was earmarked for another music retailer (that store ceased trading in 2010). Also in that year, Blundy's company started the designer, marketer and distributor (no shopfronts) of women's surfwear brand, Aztec Rose. In 1997, the company acquired 14 CC Records outlets in Victoria, folding them into the Sanity/Delta network. Brazin Limited also listed publicly with the
Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...
in December of that year with an
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...
at $1.50 a share. Blundy retained a 62% stake in the company. In June 1998, it acquired 27 outlets from the
Brashs Brashs, formerly Braschs, was an Australian music and electronics retailer. It was founded in 1862 by German Australian Marcus Brasch. The C in the name was dropped during World War I due to anti-Germanic feeling. In addition, the pronunciation ...
music chain on its demise via its administrators,
KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...
, and the two remaining stores from Blockbuster Music in
Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sect ...
,
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, and
Chapel Street Chapel Street may refer to: * Chapel Street, Belgravia, England * Chapel Street, Liverpool, England * Chapel Street, Melbourne Chapel Street is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, running along the inner suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windso ...
,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
– relaunching all of them as Sanity music stores on an ongoing basis (with staff, leases, etc. continuing at each store). After these acquisitions, Sanity and Delta had 148 outlets combined with Brazin publicly stating their aim was for 250 nationwide. The share price was now up to $2.29. In September 1998, Brazin introduced IN2 Music stores by converting three Delta outlets in North Queensland and outer Melbourne. Like Delta, IN2 Music targeted a wider demographic than Sanity's focus on the youth 16-26 age group, giving Brazin more scope after the collapse of adult-orientated chain, Brashs. IN2 Music expanded the next year after the company purchased a further 23 CC Records stores in
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, and re-branded more Delta outlets. In May 1999, the company created Viva Lingerie, targeting a different demographic to Bras 'N' Things – the former, focused on young, price-conscious women. Also in that year, Brazin acquired another 9 lingerie retail stores from Triumph International.


2000s

In March 2000, Sanity's first foray into a digital music download service caused consternation within the industry when they signed a five-year deal with
Festival Mushroom Records A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes ...
for a three-year online exclusivity window on all tracks downloaded from the label at Sanity's website. Rival retailers or other online services were meant to be blocked from Festival Mushroom's catalogue for that period unless Sanity chose to strike separate deals with their rivals to let them in. Chaos.com and Leading Edge Music both made public threats to boycott Festival Mushroom's content, but
HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...
Australia (whose website did not offer downloading) followed through, removing all their CDs from their domestic stores, adding they were would do the same overseas. But the next week, Festival Mushroom backed down, stating Sanity would simply be the wholesaler of their digital downloads for the next three years, requiring them to make all products available to other retailers at the time of release. In June of that year, Brazin opened the Gosh Coffee chain with an aim of 50 outlets within the year and ultimately reaching 200 to 300 nationwide. The store count at the end of June 2000 saw Sanity contain 233 outlets, and Bras 'N' Things with 120. In January 2001, Ian Duffell was appointed CEO with Brett Blundy moving down to run Brazin's strategic development, however eight months later he relinquished the position swapping roles with Blundy again. Duffell remained a director until April 2003. In October 2001, Sanity expanded into the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
via two related transactions with
Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...
's
Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding compa ...
, acquiring 77 troubled Our Price music stores for a symbolic £2, and in turn gaining exclusive license rights in Australia for Virgin Entertainment (which last traded in Australia nine years before under the co-ownership of the Virgin Group and
Blockbuster Inc. Blockbuster or Blockbuster Video is an American multimedia brand which was founded by David Cook in 1985 as a single home video rental shop, but later became a public store chain featuring video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on ...
). Brazin paid £7.7 million (A$21.8 million) to the Virgin Group while getting that exact amount back from Virgin for tax reasons. Brazin's managing director, Ian Duffel said that the UK music market was one of the strongest in the world that year and he expected a, "50 per cent increase in music revenues from day one." Further to the deal, Virgin would get 1 per cent of all turnover in the stores in conjunction to offering Brazin a £2 million loan facility. Brazin also made a commitment to restrict the size and proximity of its Sanity UK stores in order to ensure they do not pose a large competitive threat to Virgin's other music shops. In Australia, Brazin re-established the first
Virgin Megastore Virgin Megastores is an international entertainment retailing chain, founded in early 1976 by Richard Branson as a record shop on London's Oxford Street. In 1979 the company opened their first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenh ...
, in
Chapel Street Chapel Street may refer to: * Chapel Street, Belgravia, England * Chapel Street, Liverpool, England * Chapel Street, Melbourne Chapel Street is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, running along the inner suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windso ...
's The Jam Factory shopping centre, in April 2002. Brazin also intended to use the Virgin brand to open 45 new stores in addition to converting 55 of its existing IN2 Music stores that had not already been rebranded as Sanity. However, the program stalled as Brazin battled internal disruptions and struggled to separate the
target markets A target market, also known as serviceable obtainable market (SOM), is a group of customers within a business's serviceable available market at which a business aims its marketing efforts and resources. A target market is a subset of the total ma ...
for Virgin and its chain of more than 200 Sanity stores (at the time). As a result, the company's entertainment division posted a $27 million loss in financial year, 2002–03, and by mid-2004, Brazin had only managed to open 12 Virgin Megastores. By the end of this year, Brazin sold out of its loss-making Gosh Coffee 16-store chain (of which, six were sold to Freshfood Hospitality Pty Ltd with three still in operation today), and City Live nightclub at
Fox Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Comp ...
in Sydney. In November 2002, an additional 41 British VShop music and mobile phone stores were acquired from the Virgin Group for £2 million. Earlier that year, Brazin experienced many delays in rebranding the Our Price stores due to
landlords A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord applies ...
, heritage listings, and negotiations with
Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the railroad, track, railway signalling, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the railway station, stations of the Transport in England#Rail, British railway syste ...
. The company also shifted Sanity UK's headquarters from Our Price's central London offices to
Alperton Alperton () is an area of north-west London, England, within the London Borough of Brent. It forms the southern part of the town of Wembley and is west north-west of Charing Cross, on the border with the London Borough of Ealing. It includes a ...
. The new British outlets were already starting to return on investments and overall company operating profit rose to 32 per cent in the year to 30 June 2002 to $22.1 million with Sanity-branded outlets then numbering 291 in Australia. In June 2003, with Brazin's shareprice languishing at $0.55, some business analysts criticised the company's strategy of aggressive expansion in the Sanity brand – which they said may be cannibalising sales from sister stores – instead of concentrating on lifting the performance of existing outlets. Under this cloud, Blundy's retail investment company, Yoda Holdings, made a bid to take full control and privatise the company at $0.78. But after this announcement, shares rallied over Blundy's offer and the Australian Shareholders Association attacked the move, saying it was an abuse of the Corporations Act to use recycled money from Brazin to buy out their own minority shareholders. A month later, Blundy withdrew the bid, offering little explanation, to the public bemusement of some Brazin executives. In August 2003, Brazin acquired a 50 per cent shareholding in EzyDVD which had 15 stores at the time, while the company also bought the 19-store footwear company, Ghetto, from Blundy's Yoda Holdings. During this period of expansion, CEO Brett Blundy admitted that the Sanity chain needed to be restructured. He blamed heavy discounting in the DVD market, where large chains such as
Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...
,
Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...
and
Big W Big W (stylised as BIG W) is an Australian chain of discount department stores, which was founded in regional New South Wales in 1964. The company is a division of the Woolworths Group and as of 2024 operated 179 stores, with around 18,000 emp ...
accounted for more than one-third of the industry's sales. (Within Sanity itself, DVD sales accounted for 30% in 2003, compared to just 6% in 2001.) More short-term, its six Sanity and Virgin music stores at
Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subu ...
,
Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is an international airport serving Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operating 24/7 service, 24 hours a day with on-site parking, shopping and dining, Melbourne Airport is the List of th ...
, and London
Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...
, were hit hard by fewer passengers, spooked by the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
and
SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the virus SARS-CoV-1, the first identified strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The first known cases occurred in November 2002, and the ...
, cancelling many flights. Yet, Brazin continued with their strategy of not discounting its regular line of CDs and DVDs to meet heavy discounters and rapidly expanding rivals, such as
JB Hi-Fi JB Hi-Fi Limited is an Australian consumer electronics retail company. It is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its headquarters are located in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria. As of June 2024, the company operates 330 sto ...
which was (and still is) eating away at Sanity's market share. Blundy cited the very thin profit margins gained from such discounts as the main reason for keeping prices near the recommended retail price. (In August 1996, Sanity's general manager, Daniel Agostinelli, told ''Billboard'' that each CD sold in the 60-store chain then made 27.5%
gross profit For households and individuals, gross income is the sum of all wages, salaries, profits, interest payments, rents, and other forms of earnings, before any deductions or taxes. It is opposed to net income, defined as the gross income minus taxes ...
before subtracting 24% in costs.) Also in this month, Greg Milne was appointed CEO, leaving Blundy to again move down to head strategic development. In September 2003, even after increasing profitability across their store network, Brazin Limited sold all 118 Sanity UK stores (those, being the rebranded Our Price and VShop stores) to an investment firm called Primemist Limited, for an estimated £5 million (A$16.67 million), citing higher expectations not met. The Sanity name lived on in the UK for a very short while as rebranding was yet to occur, until Primemist immediately struggled to operate the chain due to difficulties with credit and stock purchasing, thus, entered administration in December 2003, progressively shutting 99 outlets as buyers for the entire business or individual parts of it could not be found. By April 2004, administrators BDO Stoy Hayward then closed the last 19 Sanity/Our Price stores. In July 2004, Brazin entered into an agreement with
Coles Myer Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of li ...
to open 62 Virgin concept stores within the
Myer Myer (stylised MYER) is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products across women's, men's, and child ...
department store chain. Brazin agreed to buy all of Myer's remaining CD and DVD stock, recruit, train and pay their own staff, and work within Myer's systems and promotions. These concept stores were marketed separately to stand-alone Virgin Megastores (due to their more limited stock availability) and were branded Virgin at Myer. This solved Brazin's problem since 2002 by separating the Virgin and Sanity target markets by making Virgin more "family orientated" while leaving Sanity's "street edge" to continue. Exactly a year later, Brazin stated that after a rocky start (with staff recruitment issues and aligning products with the typical Myer customer), Virgin at Myer was up 45 per cent on comparative sales and was performing well. In December 2004, Brazin acquired
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
based candle and gift-ware retailer Dusk, which operated 41 outlets at the time. In October 2005, Brazin acquired the Australian operations of
HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...
. The HMV Group's agreement with Brazin was to phase out the HMV brand in Australia by 2010. Immediately after this acquisition of HMV's 32 outlets, this put Brazin at its peak with its 74 Virgin stores in addition to Sanity's 215 and EzyDVD's 63 outlets around the country (not counting non-entertainment retail chains within Brazin such as, Bras 'N' Things) and was by far Australia's largest entertainment retailer with close to 43% of the music retail market. However, most HMV stores in Australia had very high overhead costs due to their large footprints and expensive locations, thus most were gradually closed upon the end of rental leases. The remaining stores were re-branded to Sanity over the next five years. The one notable exception to closing HMV stores in 2005 saw Brazin instead close its large Sanity store 60 meters away on the corner of Bourke Street Mall and Causeway Lane which had operated since 1996 (that space in now occupied by a Forever New clothing store). Also in that month, Brazin officially launched its Pulse
loyalty card A loyalty program or rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program. Single-company vs. coalition programs Loyalty prog ...
after a year of testing in the market. It worked by giving the customer one point for every dollar spent across the Sanity/Virgin/HMV/IN2 Music/EzyDVD/Bras 'N' Things/Dusk/Diva/Ghetto/Insane store network, receiving a $5 discount voucher or other offers once 100 points were reached. Earlier in 2005, Brazin dropped the underperforming Ghetto and Insane chains while picking up women's fashion accessories retailer, Diva – the former raising questions about Blundy's role at Brazin. In February 2006, Brazin rolled out in-store kiosks where customers could select their own songs to either burn on a CD or download directly into an
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
player. Fast Tracks Kiosks were initially installed in Sydney's Sanity/Virgin/HMV stores, with plans to go country-wide if successful. Yet, Brazin chose not to proceed. In May 2006, the company's entire 344-store Sanity/Virgin/HMV network withdrew sales data from the
ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
, with Brazin CEO, Greg Milne citing the need for more updated day-to-day charts over
ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
's reliance on weekly information. However, it was reported that allegedly Brazin attempted to make ARIA pay an annual fee between $200,000 and $300,000 for their data through Sydney-based research firm, GFK. This was denied by Brazin, but six months later the company resumed data collection for ARIA. At that stage, Brazin's Entertainment Division included 254 Sanity, 22 HMV, 6 Virgin Megastores, and 62 Virgin at Myer stores. Some record label executives estimated their combined music retail market share at between 28% and 35%. In November 2006, after more than a year of a falling share price while average S&P/ASX 200 prices had gone up 21 per cent in the same period, Brazin's founder and majority shareholder, Brett Blundy, used his fully owned private retail investment company, BB Retail Capital, to buy the remaining 37.6 per cent of the company he did not already own and make it private. He said that with "stagnant profits, market uncertainty around Brazin's entertainment business and challenging retail market conditions", the company would be better off in private hands without the pressures of the share market. Brazin's board and remaining shareholders agreed to Blundy's offer, leaving Brazin to be folded into BB Retail Capital and ceasing to exist in its own right. In March 2008, after months of delay and development, Sanity responded to the expanding Internet media environment by launching an online music subscription service in partnership with
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
called, LoadIt. However the service was scrapped only four months after its launch as its popularity was hindered by uncompetitive pricing, restricted usability and heavy competition from
BigPond Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecom ...
and
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
services. According to IBISWorld, the tough times experienced by Sanity after being folded into BBRC resulted in its revenue declining 16 per cent in financial year 2008-09 and a further 21 per cent in 2009–10. By the end of 2008, BBRC sold its controlling interest in Bras 'N' Things to ANZ and IMF Investors. In September 2009, CEO Brett Blundy sold the Entertainment Division of BB Retail Capital – which included the remaining 238 Sanity/Virgin/HMV store network – to BBRC's Head of Entertainment, Ray Itaoui, in a
management buy-out A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or High-net-worth individual, individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts bec ...
. Still retaining its
Milperra Milperra, a suburb of Local government in Australia, local government area City of Canterbury-Bankstown, is located 24 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and is a part of the South ...
headquarters (which Brazin used to operate in), Sanity Entertainment became a private company in its own right. As a result of the split, Pulse cards could only be used in BBRC's remaining store portfolio of Dusk, Diva, and Adairs.


2010s

In November 2013, Sanity owner, Ray Itaoui, together with Blundy, each bought 50 per cent stakes in Bras 'N' Things, from private equity consortiums, ANZ and IMF Investors. Announcing the deal, Blundy said to the media, "Today, more than ever, I believe in Bras 'N' Things and our business model. I believe in our customer and I believe in our people." Asked about Itaoui, he added, "Ray has done a remarkable job with Sanity. We have always worked well together and I'm excited about our next venture taking Bras 'N' Things to the next level." In February 2018, Bras 'N' Things was sold to Hanes Australasia for an estimated AU$500 million.


Adairs

In November 2007, BB Retail Capital bought an 80 per cent stake in specialty manchester and soft furnishing retailer, Adairs, from its long-term owners, the MacLean family. Adairs operated 90 stores at that stage.


Honey Birdette

BBRC previously owned a 62 per cent stake in Australian-based lingerie chain Honey Birdette. In June 2021,
PLBY Group PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focus ...
acquired Honey Birdette for A$443 million in cash and stock.


Accent Group

In December 2017, BBRC acquired a 17.99 per cent stake in footwear retailer and distributor Accent Group. BBRC sold off its stake in August 2024.


Universal Store

BBRC was part of a consortium of three investors which acquired the fashion retail chain Universal Store for $110 million in June 2018. The company went public on the
Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...
on 17 November 2020.


Bared Footwear

In 2020, BBRC acquired a 35 per cent stake in footwear company Bared Footwear.


Dissh

In March 2024, BBRC acquired a 40 per cent stake in fashion label Dissh.


References


External links

* {{Official website, https://bbrcworld.com/ Private equity firms of Australia